SUCCESS STORIES

SUCCESS STORIES

SUCCESS STORIES

Lee Chapelle is a successful advocate, who spends most of his time working actively with clients, and their families, who are either facing or serving time in the Canadian correctional system.

Lee prides himself not only in affording rights protections and attaining parole for his clients – getting them released as early as possible – but, also setting them up for success upon release to ensure they never return to jail. In addition, Lee is a prison reform activist, involved in crime prevention initiatives, an author, regular guest lecturer and public speaker.

While serving numerous years in an advocacy role as an Inmate Committee Chairman, Lee fine tuned the parole process, working with inmates towards laying a strong foundation for attaining parole through creating solid release plans, drafting parole applications and conducting mock parole hearings. Lee has assisted in obtaining approximately 500 parole grants for federal inmates.

Lee has advocated on behalf of thousands inmates, working determinedly with those whom were sincere about changing their lives, while doing his best to protect the rights of all. By the end of his sentence, Lee drafted thousands of successful applications, including: paroles, grievances, transfers, private family visits, marriage applications, etc.

Take a moment to review some of Lee’s successes.

J.P. Sentenced to 2 years less a day – Released after 4 months.

J.P. was sentenced to a jail sentence of 2-years less a day for money laundering and organized crime charges associated with a group of drug traffickers. Lee worked extensively with J.P., and his family/support network, while on bail. Through a proactive game plan and thorough preparation, Lee guided J.P. towards attaining release back home – after just 4-months in custody – under electronic monitoring to resume employment and treatment in the community. J.P. was then released on full parole at the eight month mark of his sentence and has since completed parole and his sentence, without incident.

JH Sentenced to 1 year – Released after 4 months.

J.H. was a thirty year old first time offender charged with possession of child pornography. Following a year and a half spent on bail – attending psychiatric treatment and AA meetings – J.H. was sentenced to one year in custody. The judge recommended continued treatment while in custody. After one month in custody, it was clear J.H. would not be receiving treatment due to limited treatment resources available in the Provincial Correctional system. At this point, J.H.’s defense lawyer referred Lee to J.H.’s family in effort to obtain the treatment that was both recommended and desired. Lee arranged for treatment in the community and J.H. was subsequently granted conditional release – released on parole back home to continue treatment for the balance of his one-year sentence – at the 1/3 mark of his sentence.

When J.H. began working towards early release, other inmates and guards advised him that early parole does not happen anymore. However, through efficient, knowledgeable advocating and preparation for the Parole Board, he was released after serving only 4 months of a 12-month sentence.

It is important to note, that J.H. was released with stringent conditions placed on both treatment & employment by the Parole Board – neither one of which was available to him while incarcerated in the correctional system. Therefore, although J.H. was amenable, and desired treatment, he would have been released back to the community at the 2/3 mark of his sentence – without treatment – and his sentence considered complete by the system. Such a result, clearly, would not benefit our communities, public safety, taxpayers or J.H.

A.H. Sentenced to Life 12

Lee began working with A.H. in his 16th year of serving a Life sentence with full parole eligibility set by the courts at the 12-year mark. At the time Lee began working with A.H., he had been in a federal minimum security setting for 6-years, without incident. However, he had neither a release plan nor support for conditional release anywhere in sight. Within six months after Lee began advocating on behalf of A.H. he was granted a package of 6 Unescorted Temporary Absence’s (UTA’s) by the National Parole Board and was subsequently released on day parole to a Community Residential Facility (CRF), or halfway house, in the community.

A.H. has now been out, without incident, living as productive taxpaying member of his community for seven years.

Federal Intra-Regional Transfers

Lee’s services were referred by the John Howard Society and another NPO to the wife of a federal inmate, K.S., serving a life sentence in Saskatchewan. K.S.’s wife resides in Ontario and at the time she contacted Lee, she and her husband had been trying for two years to have K.S. transferred to an Ontario institution – closer to his family, community support and eventual release destination.

34-days after Lee came on board; the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) approved K.S. for an intra-regional transfer from Saskatchewan to Ontario. He was subsequently transferred to Ontario less than three months later.